The troops are hard at it on the open training grounds. Mostly everyone is either engaged in a single combat or practising in solitary.
Perhaps it's their chic black uniforms, or the way they are striving against each other, or both; but everybody looks stunning.
Ever since I can remember, I've always wanted to be a part of the elite Black Ring Regiment.
Only that I couldn't ever have been. Not because I doubt my abilities to qualify, but because nobody would allow and trust for an Asterian to fight alongside them.
I have a chance now, and I'm going to take it.
I see to find Kolan and Drazen, along with two other members of the regiment, in the middle of what looks like a confab.
I start toward them, but a guard stops me short.
" I need urgently to speak to the Crown Prince. I come bearing a message, on behalf of Commander Ekho." I lie. I have no other stellar reason, if not that.
He inspects me, full of chary, but finally nods in approval.
I square my shoulders, and take a deep breath.
I can do this. what's the worse that can happen?
But as I reach closer, and as everyone turn to look at me, I'm not so sure.
I'm going to tune out Kolan completely, I will ignore his fixated eyes on me. Him along with everyone else's'. I'm just going to focus on Drazen, get him to do what I'm here for, and make my exit in one piece. I hope; without letting my composure slip down the drain.
I bow a little in curtsy, for the sake of appearance.
" Your grace. If you may give me a moment of your presence, I'd be grateful."
Everyone around us stop whatever they'd been doing, and turn their watchful gazes.
I try to not let myself look anywhere else, painfully aware of Kolans presence beside me.
I'll scratch his face off, if he so much as falls in my periphery.
After what feels like a millennia, Drazen nods.
" Excuse me." He addresses politely, and moves to take the lead. I follow a few paces behind him, hands clasped back.
" Yes?" Drazen inquires once we're out of earshot.
Either he doesn't seem to remember, or he's pretending not to. Either way, it doesn't matter much.
I fish out my phone from the back pocket of my jeans, and play the recording from last night for both of us to hear.
Drazen arches his eyebrows and listens intently.
" Clause three, subsection four. 'A word of honour, with a monarchical assent, is binding'. You cannot deny me now." I put forth, once the recording stops.
" Inebriation is an exception, I'm certain." Drazen responds, running a hand through his hair.
So he does remember.
I play the recording again.
" Does it sound like you're inebriated? I think not." I argue.
Drazen scans around, weighing this.
I do not look much at him when we speak, intimidated in what I see in his eyes. Right now, though, when he's clearly someplace entirely else in his head and lost in thought, I see him. I see the way his cheeks are flushed, his slightly tanned skin, the curve of his Cupid's bow, the cleft of his chin, the flex of his muscles.
I see him and think to myself that he's beautiful, in every way.
Drazen looks back at me again, and I look away.
" You know I cannot let you do that, Alyona." He shakes his head as he informs me.
I would've raved at that, but something about the way my name sounds on his lips, doesn't let me.
" I know. That is why I have this," I point, waving my phone.
" Must you want this as your stipulation?" Drazen asks.
" As one of my stipulations. We're yet to properly discuss about all this."
The wind's cold right now, but the sun shines bright overhead, and I regret wearing a v-neck sweater.
" Are you in a position to fight?" Drazen sighs, giving in.
He towers over me, and I look up to meet his eyes.
"Yes, I am." I'm not entirely lying, I think. My arm still hurts, but it is manageable. It will have to be. And needless to say, I'm good on that front.
Asterians were once, before the commencement of the war, guardians of the unified kingdom, that is now split into what is now Asteria and Zephry; each with its own fragments of allied nations. We were warriors, each birthed with our own distinct marks. Each mark denotes and influences the temperament of its bearer.
To my knowledge, it is a tradition to not let these marks be exposed. It lays out in open your one true flaw or strength, depending on the mark you bear. People can manipulate that and use it to their own advantage. And that is dangerous.
So as long as no one knows your true mark, your core essence, you're playing safe.
But here, I've let mine be exposed innumerable times before. Someone keen enough would know that the Helix I bear, is one for resilience.
It is in my blood, and maybe that's why this is so important to me.
"Come along, then." Drazen heads in the direction to where everyone's training.
I follow, my heart beating faster and faster as we get close.
Drazen makes a gesture in the air, which probably is some sort of command for everyone to line up, because that's what's happening.
" Choose your opponent." Drazen tells me, when everyone's lined up, facing us.
I do not need to choose. I already know who my opponent will be.
I pick two practice bayonets, and hand one to Kolan.
" Your grace." Let me end you, your grace.
" Pleasure." Kolan smiles and takes the sword readily.
We stand facing each other, and the entire regiment watches with keen interest.
Kolan and I bow with the index and middle fingers crossed in front, much the same way Ekho did before Klymene.
It is customary to do that before you fight a duel.
I attack first, letting go of all the pent up anger.
Kolan fends off my first blow with relative ease, but when I hit my bayonet against his again and again, my strikes getting harder and stronger, I can tell he's rattled. Good, because I'm just getting started. I will not be stopping till he remains unharmed.
I aim my bayonet to hit the funny bone in his elbow, where I know it'll send an excruciating shard of pain through his arm. But Kolan ducks a little to the side, and with one swift move, hits me exactly where I've been bruised before. He knows my weakness and he's using is well.
I stagger back, and groan in pain, my body begging for relief.
" Think we should stop here, I don't wish to see you crawl in agony." Kolan spits, his breathing strenuous.
That is a motivation enough for me. I cannot fail, especially now, not because I need to prove my worth to be recruited, but because his defeat is the only closure I'll get. The only closure I want.
I advance at him, before Kolan can ready himself. I feign to strike to his right, and deliver the blow to his left, hitting him in the shoulder.
He winces in paint, but regains his balance, and I thrust another blow at him.
We assail and parry long enough, that both of us are labouring for breath, perspiration running down our foreheads.
I don't tire. His face is a constant reminder of how he's wronged me. Everything else fades into a blur. I can only see him, can only feel my intense impulse to hurt him, over and over, as much as I can.
In a countermove, I impel my bayonet on his shoulder again. Kolan staggers back with a grunt, and I waste no time to smite his bayonet one last time, unarming him. I point mine to his chest, and he raises both his hands in surrender. He doesn't look pleased.
"I hereby recruit you in the Black Ring Regiment." Drazen announces.
He gently takes the sword from my hand, which I still have pointed at Kolan, wanting it to press even harder; and throws it on the ground.
"A word, Alyona?" He says, snapping me out of it.
~•~
I sit on a stone bench, with Drazen beside me, who's trying his best to maintain his distance as much as he can on the confined bench. I pretend not to notice the way our arms brush against each other, despite his efforts.
He hands me a bottled water, and I chug it down.
"How are you holding up?" Drazen asks after giving me a while to collect myself.
" I'll live, I think." I tell him.
My chest aches from breathing too hard, and my arm hurts like it's about to fall off.
" You were stunning back there." Drazen compliments, and then realises what he'd just said, and then hurriedly changes the course of the conversation. Dork.
" You may begin your official training from tomorrow." Drazen says
" Ok, Colonel?" I confirm. That's how I heard a few people address him here.
"Colonel." Drazen tells me I'm a gentle manner.
We sit there a while, neither of us speaking much, in a comfortable silence. Drazen's the one to break it first.
" If you're feeling up to it," he begins, " Come meet me in the Grand Room tonight. We can talk through our terms, as you said."
I knew Drazen was polite, but I never thought he'd be this polite. For the past few days, he's shown me nothing but forbearance, when I've given him every reason not to.
He has what his brothers lack.
I do not want to start admiring him, not now, not ever, however kind or polite he is. I push the thought away.
"Hmm, ok. They're not going to allow me entry though."
And after what's happened, I am absolutely not stepping anywhere even remotely close to the Royal chambers without an official permit.
" I'll have my sentry, Lars, escort you from your quarters. At least it'll spare you the trouble of entering through the windows." Drazen jokes.
He can joke?
"Pfft, whatever." I roll my eyes, and turn my head to the side, to conceal the smile playing on my lips. " Ask Lars to come at Nine." I tell him as I start to make my way back inside.
~•~
A knock comes to my door, and I think opening that Lars is here earlier than expected.
It is not Lars, it's Kolan I find standing.
" What the hell are you doing here?" I spit the words at him.
His eyebrows go up at the harshness of my words.
" Good evening to you too. Allow me to come in." Kolan says.
As if I'd let him. He regards me with an expression that I cannot read, and it only confuses me even more.
"No." I say, and begin to close the door. I want no part in his cunning schemes anymore. No more of his subterfuges I'll tolerate.
Kolan splays his hand to stop me from closing the door shut, and takes hold of my wrist to pull me outside.
"Before you shower me in profanities." Kolan interjects, and fumbles in his pocket in search for something. " Here, you dropped this." He hands me my thumb ring, which I did not notice had gone missing.
For some reason, I just stand there, eyeing my ring in his hand. My mind scrambling to find a reason for his coming all the way here to hand me my ring, when I thought I'd brutally injured his ego this morning.
I must've been frowning for a tad too long, forgetting to conceal my expression, because Kolan makes a tsk-tsk sound and shakes his head.
He takes the ring ans slides it on my thumb.
"Things aren't going to be easy for you. In the Regiment, I mean." Kolan says, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
" Is that a threat?." I tilt my head, trying to sound imposing. I eschew from slamming my fist on his jaw.
"Just a warning, pretty." Kolan says, his eyes studying my lips.
He inches closer, but I stay where I am, refusing to back away.
" Oh, I'm frightened, I truly am." I mock. " Now get the hell out of here."
"What's the rush?" Kolan says, and his lips stray to find mine.